The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2 - 61

Intentional Democratic Communities

activities that were not typical of events in other residence halls. Many of these activities occurred late at night and only involved community members. These events created a collective memory, embodying an attitude that challenged the norms of typical student behavior and helped the community create a sense of itself as a group separate from the rest of the resident students on campus (Kanter, 1972). Former community residents have identified some of these common experiences: Wazoo requesting a pearl of wisdom before one could continue passing up or down the stairs. (J.L.Hodgden) Juggling in the lounge at 2 in the morning. (D. Jankura) The wedding between the Gorilla and the beautiful woman. (One student’s father owned a costume store.) (J. Fried) The Friday Night Dinner theme when, after eating, we all went into the living room with some kitchen utensils and jammed for a good half an hour. I wish someone had recorded that. The beat was amazing. (B. Hess) There was the day that two IDCers spent most of the day rigging up Hess’s electric chair [Hess having limited use of his arms and no use of his legs] with an R2D2 costume. That was a show stopper driving around the campus. (D. Hammerstrom) The 10 elements of community that Crookston identified emerged and evolved as the community progressed through its own stages of development. This particular community wrote its own social contract before the residence was occupied, which all residents signed before they moved in. The social contract was intended to be rewritten every year

by each new group to initiate the process of democratic conversation among the residents. In the IDC at the University of Connecticut, the contract involved labor credits for helping in the kitchen, cleaning the building, managing group activities, and keeping accounts for the small community budget. Any activity that served the welfare of the group could be assigned a number of labor credits, and every member was required to earn a particular number of credits in a two-week cycle. The first seven elements were quite visible throughout the life of the community while the last three were meta-processes which appeared and disappeared depending on conditions. Transcendence, communion, and ongoing process were not clearly defined by Crookston. In common parlance, communion involves the sharing of

In the IDC at the University of Connecticut, the contract involved labor credits for helping in the kitchen, cleaning the building, managing group activities, and keeping accounts for the small community budget. Any activity that served the welfare of the group could be assigned a number of labor credits, and every member was required to earn a particular number of credits in a two-week cycle .

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2